Northern Ireland Abortion and Gay Rights

Abortion was decriminalised in England, Wales and Scotland in 1967 and was made available through the NHS for free. Same-sex marriage was legalised in England & Wales in 2013 and 2014 in Scotland. Unfortunately, neither of these rights fully extend to Northern Ireland.

In July, the UK government introduced the Northern Ireland Executive Formation Bill in the UK Parliament. This was a largely technical and politically neutral legal instrument required due to the ongoing suspension of the Northern Irish Assembly as the Nationalists and the Unionists could not agree on a power sharing deal in 2017. For over 1000 days, Northern Ireland has been running without a government and no legislation could have been passed in the NI Assembly.

Two Labour MPs submitted two amendments to the Bill, forcing the laws legalising abortion and same-sex marriage to be extended to Northern Ireland unless the NI Assembly can resume sitting before 21st October with a government formed. No power-sharing deal was agreed and no government could be formed. Now the UK government will have to elevate abortion right and marriage equality in Northern Ireland to the same standard as the rest of the UK by April 2020.

The island of Ireland has been notorious for its ultra-conservative stance on social liberation, with the Republic being generally worse off than the North. Divorce was, bizarrely, not allowed in the Republic until in 1995, when the Irish people voted in favour of divorce rights by 50.3% to 49.7%. In both the North and the Republic, carrying out abortion was punishable by life imprisonment unless the life of the mother was threatened. So says the law, however in 2012, a Galway resident was refused abortion despite her deteriorating health. She died of sepsis 5 days later.

The table has turned in recent years, with the Republic legalising same-sex marriage in 2015 and allowed abortion on-demand in 2018. These archaic laws remained in Northern Ireland. It should be noted, however, that same-sex couples in Northern Ireland were able to obtain civil partnership status since 2004. Starting from June 2017, NHS England also provides free abortion service to Northern Irish

residents with travel costs reimbursed. This arrangement is certainly welcomed, but it came far too late and can hardly be considered accessible, especially for women in vulnerable groups.

In 1967, legislations from Westminster generally applied to the whole of the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland was explicitly excluded from the Act decriminalising abortion. Since the late 1990s, devolved legislatures were set up in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with Westminster devolving numerous powers to these regional assemblies. Abortion and marriage are among these devolved matters (except for Wales). Same-sex marriage was made legal in England and Wales in 2013, with the Scottish parliament promptly following suit in early 2014. The Northern Irish assembly voted 4 times to legalise same-sex marriage since 2012, with all being defeated by a narrow margin. In 2015, legalisation of same-sex marriage finally received majority support in Stormont, however this vote was nullified through an abuse of petition of concern.

Ironically, the biggest devil in the play is the Democratic Unionist Party. As the name suggests, the DUP supports Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom with strengthening ties with Great Britain. With what I regard as one of the most egregious political hypocrisy currently in existence, the DUP stood consistently opposed to abortion rights, a policy adapted, accepted and taken as norm by millions of Britons for more than half a century, and arguably, one that distinguishes whether a country is living in the present or past . The DUP has also consistently opposed same-sex marriage, a policy that once again, is widely supported across the UK.

The Nationalist camp is mostly supportive of social liberation, despite having a strong tie with Catholicism through its pro-Irish Reunification voter base. Sinn Féin, the largest nationalist party, had a reserved stance on abortion rights until ultimately in 2018, adopted a stance to allow abortion on demand. Sinn Féin has also supported same-sex marriage, while refusing to form a government with the DUP unless they agree to work towards marriage equality. SDLP labelled themselves as “pro-life” although gave MLAs free vote on the matter. SDLP has also voted in favour of marriage equality in all the 5 votes tabled to the Assembly between 2012 and 2015.

Put it this way: you know you are probably in the wrong when Catholic sympathisers are more socially liberal than you. The DUP unfortunately doesn’t get it, and continued its attempt to sabotage social progression even after the UK Parliament has affirmed its stance. The DUP requested the NI Assembly to be summoned on 21st October, on the deadline set out by the NI Executive Formation Act. This was of course futile as a government couldn’t possibly have been formed on the day. The DUP has also tabled a motion “That this Assembly agrees that the legislative position on abortion in Northern Ireland will most appropriately be determined by the Northern Ireland Assembly”. Or, in other words, “we’ll abuse the procedure to block it even if decriminalisation of abortion gets majority support in the Assembly, just like what we did with same-sex marriage.”

Indeed there are few major parties in Western Europe with such a hard-line regressive ideology, and even fewer parties that openly take pride in such fundamentalism. The DUP’s stance is not the path history takes, and they will promptly be remembered as the antagonist in the struggle for social liberation.